Armed men ambush police base in southern Mali

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Dozens of armed men on motorbikes suspected of being Islamic militants attacked a police base in southern Mali early on Wednesday, security sources said.

"Very early this morning, a police base in Misseni was attacked by armed men," Colonel Souleymane Maiga, director for communication for the Malian army said. He did not give a death toll or comment on the identity of the attackers, but said reinforcements had been deployed to the area.

One of the military sources said that about 30 attackers arrived at the base in the Sikasso Region near the Ivorian border waving a black flag and shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest" in Arabic). A police officer and a gendarme were killed in the attack and the base was burned down, he added.